Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe included as Ian Drake picks worst XI from Euro 2024
ESPN writer Ian Drake has included Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo and his France counterpart Kylian Mbappe in his worst Euro 2024 XI. The competition concluded in Berlin on Sunday (July 14) with Spain beating England 2-1.
It marked La Roja's record fourth European Championship title, adding to their earlier successes in 1964, 2008 and 2012. Meanwhile, the wait for a first major title for the Three Lions continues, as they've fallen in successive Euro finals.
While the likes of Lamine Yamal and Cody Gakpo emerged as standouts from the competition, at the other end of the spectrum, more illustrious names like Ronaldo and Mbappe failed to come to the party.
The hypothetical Euro 2024 flop XI (in a 3-4-3) formation features Scotland goalkeeper Angus Gunn, Croatian centre-back Josip Sutalo, Austrian centre-back Maximilian Wober and Scotland's Ryan Porteus at the back.
In midfield, Drake included Italy's Federico Chiesa, France's Antoine Griezmaann, Hungary's Dominik Szoboszlai and Scotland's John McGin, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe and Slovenia's Benjamin Sesko in a three-man attack.
How Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe fared at Euro 2024
Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Euro 2024 off a 44-goal 2023-24 season with Al-Nassr and a 10-goal qualifying campaign with A Selecao. However, the 39-year-old drew blanks in five games, marking the first time in 11 major tournaments that he failed to score at all, leave alone in the group stage.
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner missed an extra-time penalty in the Round-of-16 win over Slovenia. That would have made him the first player to score in six Euros editions and also the oldest scorer in tournament history.
However, he redeemed himself in the ensuing shootout, which his team won 3-0. Ronaldo also scored in the quarter-final shootout against France. But he was powerless to help the 2016 champions avert a 5-3 defeat following a goalless 120 minutes, ending his campaign with an assist in six games.
Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappe was equally disappointing at Euro 2024. Although he opened his Euros account after drawing a blank on his competition debut at Euro 2020, his only goal of the tournament came from the spot in the 1-1 group-stage draw with Poland.
The new Real Madrid striker, though, produced blanks in the three knockout games. But he did provide the assist to Randal Kolo Muani in the 2-1 semi-final loss to eventual winners Spain, finishing with a goal and two assists in five games.